CVE-2017-5521 NETGEAR Multiple Devices Exposure of Sensitive Information
Attackers can retrieve admin passwords from NETGEAR routers by exploiting a token disclosure flaw in the web management interface.
- Exploited in the wild
- Since 8 Sep 2022
- Login needed
- Not needed
- Attackable
- Over the internet
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- None listed
What is CVE-2017-5521?
CVE-2017-5521 is a high-severity vulnerability in Netgear D6220 Firmware, published on 17 Jan 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Official description
An issue was discovered on NETGEAR R8500, R8300, R7000, R6400, R7300, R7100LG, R6300v2, WNDR3400v3, WNR3500Lv2, R6250, R6700, R6900, and R8000 devices. They are prone to password disclosure via simple crafted requests to the web management server. The bug is exploitable remotely if the remote management option is set, and can also be exploited given access to the router over LAN or WLAN. When trying to access the web panel, a user is asked to authenticate; if the authentication is canceled and password recovery is not enabled, the user is redirected to a page that exposes a password recovery token. If a user supplies the correct token to the page /passwordrecovered.cgi?id=TOKEN (and password recovery is not enabled), they will receive the admin password for the router. If password recovery is set the exploit will fail, as it will ask the user for the recovery questions that were previously set when enabling that feature. This is persistent (even after disabling the recovery option, the exploit will fail) because the router will ask for the security questions.
Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-5521?
It affects 13 products.
Products include Netgear Ac1450 Firmware, Netgear D6220 Firmware, Netgear D6300 Firmware, Netgear D6300b Firmware, Netgear D6400 Firmware, Netgear Dgn2200bv4 Firmware and 7 more.
How do I fix CVE-2017-5521?
No fix has been published for CVE-2017-5521 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available. US federal agencies must fix it by 29 Sep 2022.
Is CVE-2017-5521 being exploited?
Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2017-5521 in the wild since at least 8 Sep 2022.
Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module, 1 Exploit-DB entry and 1 Nuclei template.
Other vulnerabilities in Netgear D6220 Firmware
Sources
Also known as GHSA-6cqf-r56h-g5xf.